Kid’s safety: No internet, no camera — a cell phone that is ‘safe’ for children

Mother to a five-year-old, Sood, under her enterprise ‘Secure Your Kidz’ (www.secureyourkidz.com), started work on Airi last January for children up to the age of 12. Although it works through a mobile operator and needs a SIM card, what makes it different from your regular mobile are the 56 safety modules introduced for the first time in through hardware and software integration.

Minus the internet, flashy cameras or downloads, Airi, points out Sood, are purely safety devices with features such as easy to use, one touch button communication, easy to set up through SMS or their website, dedicated SOS button for emergency, firewall for rejection of unknown numbers, 24X7 monitoring services through a simple SMS, restrict in schools etc.

“One can feed only 50 contacts in it, and it can be monitored 24×7 by parents. Apart from speed dial, there is a special SOS key for help that on one press sends a ‘Emergency’ SMS to four numbers fed in the device,” fills in Sood.

The parents can keep a check in their absence too by simply sending an SMS to the device, and without the child or anyone with him/her knowing, the phone switches on and parents can listen to the surroundings.

Shaped like a little animated toy, parents can also slip it in the school bag of their young one and monitor offline too.

“Two people at any given time can check, and those two are the mom and dad,” says Sood.

Creating the product was a challenge, for Sood and her team has been developing and adding features ever since they took it out for a market test last August. It is now available on platforms like Amazon and Flipkart.

“We sent out 20 samples and took feedback from parents and modified accordingly. For instance, most of them found out maids talking endlessly on it, so we’ve reduced the calling time to 30 seconds after which it cuts automatically,” adds Sood. Once parents set password, it prevents child to misuse, shutdown or deliberately shutdown, except for parents contact. It comes with anti-theft protection and because there is no internet, it can run for four days and has ultra low radiation making it a kid-friendly design.